Prior methods of moving digital media and data from one computer to another computer required a physical connection, e.g. a communications cable or a portable storage medium or a network. For example, media and data could be transferred with a communications cable and specialized software called PC Link. For example, media and data could be transferred with a portable storage medium such as CF, SD, and so on. As an alternative, media and data could be transferred using a network and required communications devices, e.g. a network card, modem, and so on, and specialized communications software. With the advent of wireless networks, e.g. WIFI, Bluetooth, etc., digital media and data could be transferred without a physical connection. However, the sending computer and the receiving computers still require modems or their wireless equivalent.
Similarly, prior methods of moving digital media and data from a computer to a mobile device required a communications device on-board the mobile device. For example, some mobile devices, e.g. notebooks, have traditional modems and/or wireless equivalents such as Bluetooth to connect to the internet. For example, other mobile devices, e.g. mobile phones, have radio frequency (RF) transmitters and receivers to connect to wireless networks such as PCS, GSM, 3G, and so on.
Due to the potential demand for substantial network bandwidth, wireless providers are encouraging the return to use of physical connections for transference of media and data to mobile phones as an alternative to wireless networks. For example, media and data may also be transferred to mobile devices using physical connections, e.g. a communications cable (e.g. USB or Firewire) or a storage card (e.g. CF or SD), and specialized communications software. Prior methods teach users to depend on physical connections, and thus, forsake an essential part of cell phone mobility.
Initially, network capacity was a perceived problem for transmission of music and video media. The demand for network capacity was alleviated in part by the increasing bandwidth capacity of wireless networks, e.g. 3G. Yet, wireless providers still consider network capacity to be a problem for transmission of music and video media despite plan for increased network capacity, e.g. 5G, 10G, etc. One issue that affects bandwidth is the predominance of “streaming” media, e.g. real time radio and newcasts, via the internet. Streaming media requires bandwidth each time the media is played whereas downloaded media only requires bandwidth when it is initially downloaded.
Even if network bandwidth were not a problem, a mobile device still requires sufficient on-board memory to store media, e.g. a playlist. Unlike many newer mobile devices with removable storage cards, older mobile phones do not have substantial onboard memory. Thus, on-board memory remains an issue for transference of media, including music media.
Although most wireless carriers allow download or streaming videos to capable mobile phones on their networks, the mobile services of carriers are actually very limited. For example, carriers offer services such as messaging, email, and web browsing but not internet search. Although carriers offer keyword search, the search functionality is generally limited to their walled garden and none offers internet search such as internet videos, music, and other media. For example, carriers do not offer search of internet websites such as Flickr or YouTube.com but users have to utilize the browser and “go to url” to find internet search because that functionality does not exist within their walled gardens.
Although wireless carriers often distribute third party content and media, carriers do not typically create original content and restrict the distribution of user created content to specific communication channels. Further, carriers do not offer services for editing content regardless of whether content is original content, third party content, or user created content. For example, carriers do not offer services for editing documents (e.g. doc or ppt files) or media files (e.g. videos). Even the new mobile service for sharing live video offered by ATT Wireless does not allows editing of video. Hence, the extent of services offered by carriers is very limited.
Many online services offer users the ability to download music to their computers through the internet and then transfer to mobile devices, e.g. a mobile phone, using a physical connection. For example, such an online service is offered by Yahoo! Music of Santa Clara, Calif. Another online service offered by Digeo, Inc. of Kirkland, Wash. allows users the ability to download music directly to their mobile phone over the wireless provider network. However, the service allows only downloads of radio programs or downloads of newly purchased digital media. In addition, the Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., allows downloads of music directly to its new iPhone using the iTunes service and videos directly from the youtube service. However, the iPhone restricts the user's ability to download music and videos from other websites. Other online services allow streaming of videos to various devices that have installed applications or embedded viewers for viewing streaming video. Such devices include desktops, notebooks and some mobile devices, e.g. smartphones. For example, YouTube and many other online services allow streaming of videos to such devices (but not all mobile phones). A few online services allow either download or streaming of videos to some mobile phones (but not all mobile phones) because these services require an application on the mobile phone. For example, cellfish.com and mywaves.com allow either downloads or streaming to mobiles phones (but not all mobile phones). In addition, several services such as mywaves.com allow users to ‘search’ for videos on the desktop and make them accessible to the user. However, these online services are not true search of the internet but are in reality querying a database having a limited number of 100's of videos. Further, none of the online services allows users to search for videos from their mobile phones except for blueapple.mobi delivers a video of only 5 fps and also in reality querying a database.
Owners of content sites have existing media libraries that they wish to mobilize. The prior art methods, such as that used by YouTube and others, requires owners of websites to convert the video and then put it into their mobile system for people to view. The video is not available to view until it is converted and added to their mobile system. Their mobile videos do not reflect their full content library. However, there may not be interest in every media file (especially user created content) uploaded by every user of a content site. Thus, mobilizing their whole content library is inefficient and resources are wasted in mobilizing every media file. Even if a relatively small content site could afford to mobilize every file in a batch process, new files are continuously being added, and thus, the mobile content would not be up to date.
Still other online services eliminate the need for installed applications and are known as “software as a service” (SaaS). For example, companies are offering enterprise applications as online services such as that offered by salesforce.com of San Francisco, Calif. In another example, companies are offering consumer applications for editing documents such as Virtual Office offered by office.com of Washington, D.C. Virtual Office enables editing of typical office documents by providing the online functionality of a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation editors, etc. but does not include a module for editing video and other media. Still other examples include Jumpcut, Grouper, and Motionbox for editing video via a web browser using a Flash player of the type made under the Macromedia tradename. However, none of these online services allows users to edit videos or other media without an installed application such as a Flash player embedded in the browser or otherwise installed on the device. One service Grouper gave up video editing on the desktop due to a lack of users which teaches away from a mass market consumer service. Further, no browser for mobile phones (other than smartphones) supports a Flash application which typically requires a Flash player. Moreover, even if one version of a browser or other mobile application such as Flash Lite did support some Flash applications through a web interface, the browser or mobile application may not support every Flash application such as those for editing video(s) or media without a full Flash player and/or periodically requiring an update to the browser or mobile application, and thus, leading to maintenance and support issues.
Heretofore, no online service enables users the ability to search the internet for any available videos (e.g. breaking news, live broadcasts, user created videos, archived videos, and so on) at one or more websites and deliver them (or clips of them) to any web-enabled mobile phone. Currently, mobile users of existing online services are offered only a limited selection of videos (from hundreds to thousands) which are transcoded and stored in advance for retrieval by a user's query. No existing online service enables mobile users to perform a keyword search of in real time for videos and other media accessible on the internet (up to millions of videos).
Heretofore, no online service enables users the ability to edit video and/or other media without installing an application. Currently, users have to download media from an online source to a local device, e.g. desktop or laptop, in order to edit the media using a program installed on their computers. Further, an application embedded in a browser such as a Flash player is still an application. Since prior methods necessitate installation of a program, it is difficult to use on all portable devices due to hardware constraints including available memory and operating system compatibility as well as carrier restrictions on applications. This is particularly difficult for mobile devices such as mobile phones. Even if a program can be installed on a portable device, prior methods necessitate download of the media file from an online source even if the post-edited media file will be uploaded to an online source, and thus, the prior methods are inefficient.
Thus, a long felt need is an online service that allows users to search for videos and other media through a web interface on any mobile phone as well as to retrieve and play any media item from the search results and/or to send the retrieved media item to any mobile phone.
Another long felt need is an online service to edit videos and other media through any web interface using any device including desktops, notebooks, and mobile phones without the need to install any application.